It’s Your Birthday, Lois Lane
by htbthomas
Summary: Clark decides to do something nice for Lois’ birthday, possibly at his peril. No spoilers for Season 7 by request.


**Title:** _It's Your Birthday, Lois Lane_  
**Author:** **htbthomas**  
**Fandom:** _Smallville_  
**Rating:** PG  
**Word Count:** 1,400 words  
**Summary:** Clark decides to do something nice for Lois' birthday, possibly at his peril. No spoilers for Season 7 by request.**  
Author's Note:** A birthday fic for **oxy irony**. Her prompt: "a Smallville Clois birthday theme." Thanks to (who else?) **Mark C** and **Van El II** for beta help. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Well, that was weird." Clark watched Lois stalk out the newsroom, an expression of bemusement on his face. "All I did was point out a minor typo... she didn't have to bite my head off."

Chloe smirked and set down an armful of files. "Have you _met_ my cousin?" she teased. Her face grew more thoughtful as she added, "But yeah, that was pretty rough, even for her. I think she might be upset because it's her birthday." Chloe pulled out her chair and sat down at her desk.

Clark tilted his head. "I didn't know it was her... Why would that make anyone upset?"

Chloe opened her mouth for a moment... and then shut it quickly, shaking her head. "Never mind. Let's just say that birthdays weren't exactly cake and balloons and pony rides for her growing up." Turning back to her computer, she clicked on her word processor to open a file. "I'm lucky she lets me give her a present and buy her a cake."

"What about the cake the two of you made for me...?"

"That's different somehow. She doesn't mind celebrating someone else's birthday, just her own." She hardly looked up as she began to type. "Now if you'll excuse me I need to get this finished if I'm going to get the cake and still make it in time for dinner."

Clark stood there for a moment. For some reason, a store-bought cake and a dinner didn't seem right. Before he could really think through what he was doing, he began, "Well, I could..."

"What? Pick the cake up for me? That'd be awesome," she said from around the pen she had just placed between her teeth.

"No. I could make her a cake."

Chloe dropped the pen from her mouth in shock. "You? Is this some new 'power' you've picked up?"

"No!" He shot her a look of annoyance which just caused her to grin widely. "You live in the same house with a cook like my mom, you pick up a few things."

"All right, _Emeril_, you think you can have it done by 6pm?" Chloe asked, leaning back with crossed arms. "I mean, barring any Meteor Freak emergencies."

The challenge in her eyes made him straighten his back. "Of course." He turned and headed for the elevators. "6pm!"

"Make sure it's chocolate!" she called, and he gave her a thumbs up as the elevator doors closed.

- - - - -

Now standing in his kitchen with the mixing bowl in front of him, Clark wondered whether he shouldn't have just gone looking for a stray tornado to tackle instead. He'd gotten everything mixed together, but there was no telling whether it was the right consistency or not. Taking a deep breath, he poured the mixture into the cake pans and then placed them in the oven. Only time would tell if he had made something edible.

"Though it wouldn't be hard to top Lois Lane's cooking..."

As if by magic, Clark heard the sound of a car engine coming up the drive. He turned to scan outside... _Lois!_ He thought briefly about super-speed cleaning the kitchen, but that would do nothing about the cake in the oven. _What the heck is she doing over here, anyway?_

"Hey, Smallville!" Lois opened the screen door and walked in without even knocking. She wore one of her work suits, and held a briefcase in her hand. "Do you know where your mom kept...?" Lois' words trailed off as she sniffed the air. "What is that smell?"

Clark had just hidden all of the mess under a towel, and came out of the kitchen to greet Lois. "Hey, Lois. Where did my mom keep what?"

Lois' eyes roamed the room as she set down her case, never really settling on him at all. "Where she stores her old files," she remarked absent-mindedly. "I'm doing some research on a story, and I remembered some legislation she was working on last year... Is that chocolate?"

Clark gestured toward the stairs, trying to distract her attention. "I think she left a few boxes of files in storage in the attic, I can help you look for them."

But Lois completely ignored him and went into the kitchen. "Are you baking something?" _Oh, no, I didn't want her to know _I_ was the one who made it..._ He sprint-hopped across the carpet. When he entered the kitchen area, she was bending down to look in the oven. "A cake?" she asked with undisguised disbelief.

"Yeah. So you want to go get those files...?"

Lois came toward him, scowling, her original idea for coming here seemingly gone. "That had _better_ not be for me."

Clark thought through, and discarded several ideas. But instead of dissembling, he simply said, "And if it is...?"

He expected a tirade, but instead she went back over to the oven, grumbling. "Of all the brainless, corn-fed ideas..."

"Well, you _did_ make a cake for me, once." _Even if it was lopsided... and blue._ "It's only fair."

She stood suddenly. "You're lucky it's chocolate, or you might have ended up with a face full of it later." Walking past him, she headed toward the stairs. "Come help me get those files."

Clark stifled a grin as he followed.

- - - - -

After a fruitless search in the attic and a little over an hour later, Lois had managed to convince him that she needed to help frost and decorate her own birthday cake. With all his worrying, he was pretty pleased with how well it had turned out. She was currently frosting the sides of the cake (_'because the icing is the best part'_), a look of complete concentration on her face. Somehow she had managed not to get any on her clothing, but her face was sporting a couple of chocolate patches.

Picking up the can, she scraped the inside. "Do you have any more of this?"

Clark put down the tube of green frosting he had been holding. "No, that's the last of it." He looked down to see the problem. Lois had used all of her portion and only covered about half of the cake.

"What? You don't have another can?" She frowned, dropping down to search in the underside of the kitchen island. "You should always have _two_ of them! They never give you enough to finish a whole cake."

_Especially when you eat a couple of spoonfuls right out of the can_, he thought. But aloud he said, "I bet we could spread the frosting around a little from the top and the side you finished..." He took a spare butter knife from the drawer and began to thin the icing in places, especially the places Lois had worked on.

Lois stood up and shrugged. "I'll just have to take a bigger piece, then."

After a few strokes of the knife, he had everything covered but a tiny corner. And as he pondered what to do, his eyes were again drawn to the specks of chocolate dotting Lois' face. Feeling a sudden burst of mischief, he gestured with the knife toward her face. "And if we use some of that icing on your face. There's probably enough to frost a whole slice..."

Lois pierced him with a stare. "Tell me you are _not_ about to touch my face with a _knife_."

"Should I use a spoon, then?" he teased, moving closer. "Or maybe it would just rub off, there's so much of it."

Clark touched her cheek with a laugh, expecting Lois to squirm away... maybe get into a playful chase... but the spark that leapt between them at the slight contact froze them both in place. He could see by the confusion in her eyes that she hadn't expected it at all.

Before he could regret it, he pulled her close for a tentative kiss... which deepened quickly. She tasted sweet, much sweeter than the chocolate that mingled in their kiss. He placed a hand under her hair, and she gasped and lifted her hands to thread her fingers through his wavy strands. He felt lost in her touch, so lost that he heard the sound of the front door too late...

"Whoa!" Chloe exclaimed in shock, and Lois and Clark pulled away from each other as if they had just been splashed with cold water. Chloe's shock quickly turned into an amused leer. "Happy Birthday, _Lois._"


End file.
